On Tuesday 2nd June Ray Mears, survival expert and TV personality fulfilled his promise to spend the day with pupils from Castlebay School. In the past few years, Ordnance Survey has provided every Primary 7 pupil in the UK with a map of their local area. As part of this Free Maps for Schools scheme and to encourage their map skills, Castlebay School pupils entered a competition last year where they were to outline how they would like to spend the day with Ray Mears.

Ray Mears was so impressed with the Castlebay School submission that he chose their entry out of thousands from all over the UK. At a whole school assembly, after issuing certificates and awards, Ray talked to the pupils about the many similarities between different cultures throughout the world and how our culture is directly related to our landscape. He emphasised the importance of passing our heritage on from one generation to the next and learning from ones surroundings. Finally, Ray Mears encouraged the youngsters to look after the environment and relayed an important message to the youngsters quoting Grey Owl (an Englishman who became an American Indian): “We belong to nature, it does not belong to us.”

In the afternoon, the S1 class armed with their maps and compasses took Ray Mears to Grid Reference 6704. When asked about what they would like to do, the pupil replied, “We would like to find out more about how people survived in Barra in the olden days.”

With the help of local historian Calum MacNeil, the youngsters learned that our ancestors had a wealth of local food. With over 50 different varieties of fish, shellfish, birdlife and mammals, their diet was very different from what we eat today. Pupils enjoyed tasting common sorrel and wild onions which were eaten in the past. They also learned about the many values and uses of other plants such as yarrow (antiseptic) and how flour was made from the root of the silver weed which grows in abundance around Barra. In glorious sunshine, Ray Mears helped youngsters to look at the landscape through the ecosystem and identified woodland plants in an area where the trees are long gone. He pointed out ways of reading aspects of nature which are no longer obviously visible. He encouraged youngsters to work with their elders in order to learn from them, as he has done throughout the world.

Ray Mears said “The children have been fantastic and Barra is so beautiful. For me it has been a privilege to walk along paths as our elders did long ago and to be reminded of how they lived.”

The day spent with Ray Mears was such a success that one pupil said “We had a great day, I hope he comes back to see us again soon.” Another said “Some of these plants tasted so good and they just grow wild around here.”